Albrecht Dürer's House, Art museum and historic residence in Old Town, Nuremberg, Germany.
Albrecht Dürer's House is a corner building near the Tiergärtnertor with a sandstone lower section and timber-framed upper floors. A band above the entrance reads ALBRECHT-DÜRER-HAUS. The sandstone base has barred windows and a rounded arch with a multi-paned window, while the upper floors have rows of small square panes. The steep tiled roof has a gable with red-and-white half-timbering, a smaller dormer, and a red wooden gallery along one side.
The house was built around 1420; dendrochronology dates its oldest beams to 1418. The merchant and astronomer Bernhard Walther, who bought it in 1501, gave the upper floors and roof their present form and fitted small windows in the south gable for his observatory. Dürer bought it in 1509 for 275 gulden and lived and worked here until 1528. The city acquired it in 1826 ahead of the 1828 tricentenary of Dürer's death and set up a memorial room; since 1871 the Albrecht-Dürer-Haus-Verein has run it as a museum.
The rooms are largely wood-panelled, with plank floors and bullseye panes, recreating a craftsman's household around 1500. On the first floor, an almost original kitchen and three living rooms adjoin; information panels there map Dürer's family, friends and patrons. An actress playing Agnes Dürer leads guided tours.
Plan your visit for morning hours when fewer visitors are present and you can explore the rooms more easily. Regular tours and printing demonstrations happen on specific weekdays, so check the schedule before you go.
Bernhard Walther, a merchant and astronomer, bought the house in 1501 and had small windows cut into the south gable for his "gewergk der astronomey". A contract in the Nuremberg city archive forbade him from throwing anything from these windows onto the neighbouring roof. Historical views show the house used as an observatory.
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